The Storeroom in Jackie's Cafe
by Oceana714
Summary: Inside Jacky's Cafe lurked the Mani Mani statue. This is the story of how it came to be there and the owner's own experience in Moonside.


The Storeroom in Jacky's Cafe  
  
by Oceana  
  
Oh. It's you. They said they'd send another like you. I know what you want.   
  
You wish to know of times gone by. The dreams I used to have. Moonside.I know your   
  
type. You don't have to explain anything to me. I also know that I have vowed to never   
  
speak of it again, not for anything. It is a time that is dead to me, like a leaf that   
  
has fallen to the ground and crumbled away.   
  
Yes, I sold Jackie's Café. I sold it because business was terrible and no one   
  
liked it there. Who cares if I owned the place 20 years prior to Moonside? You see! I   
  
do not fear the name. It is dead to me and selling the café buried it and marked its   
  
grave.   
  
What will you do with your new insight? Will you inform the world of the man   
  
too scared to enter his storeroom? Ah, you are a tricky one. So it's all for me now,   
  
not you. Well, I don't buy it and I don't like you, but I am past my prime and have   
  
time on my hands. However, once open, this door is not easily shut.  
  
The rustle of autumn leaves begin our tale, for that sound will always make me   
  
think of Moonside. Autumn was a bad time of year for my café (Unfortunately, there  
  
were no good times). Before he showed up, the only world I concerned myself with   
  
revolved around dangerously high levels of caffeine in the form of espresso. I   
  
think at the time, such things were illegal, but I cannot be certain. At my current   
  
income, bankruptcy was inevitable. Then, a strange man with a unibrow and a pot belly   
  
approached me about keeping some sort of odd antique in my storeroom. He paid so   
  
handsomely I could not refuse.  
  
I don't think it was the first night, and I cannot recall the second, so I   
  
will say that it was the third night after this that the nightmares began. They all   
  
began the same way. I would wake up in a place that I would first think to be my   
  
bedroom above the café. Yet everything would be different. The first thing I would   
  
always notice was the darkness. Neither sun, nor moon, nor stars would ever gaze upon   
  
Moonside. I remember well the chaotic neon signs that were the only light in this   
  
unending darkness.   
  
There were people in Moonside. Strange people. They would babble off nonsense   
  
and say that no was yes. In retrospect, I'm not sure all of them spoke real words, but   
  
somehow, I would always find myself talking to the same person in the end. Male?   
  
Female? I do not recall. I'm not sure I knew. I would ask them the same thing for   
  
many haunted nights and he would respond the same way.  
  
"Where am I? What is this place?"  
  
"Moonside."  
  
"Where is Moonside?"  
  
"Where do you think it is?"  
  
"Someplace cast in shadow."  
  
"This place was not cast in shadow, for it is shadow. It is the shadow of   
  
Fourside."  
  
"How did I get here? Why am I here?" I would always feel a grip of panic steal   
  
over me, for I feared the answer, even after I knew it.  
  
"You are here to await the coming Universal Cosmic Destroyer. He comes to   
  
destroy, end and turn the workd to darkness." Then, this person I spoke to would look   
  
at me with the most vacant of expressions and proclaim, "You do not belong here just   
  
yet, but you will."   
  
Suddenly, it seemed as though the entire town would turn towards me. Then,   
  
they would smile and it would be a warm, friendly smile that chilled me to the bone.   
  
And so I would turn away, only to be staring into the eyes of a giant golden statue.   
  
At the time, I couldn't help but think that it was a strange beacon in the darkness,   
  
yet it cast long, dark shadows. I could feel some sort of ominous potency radiating   
  
from it. The eyes of the statue were ones I could never forget. Somehow, the craftsman   
  
had managed to instill the eyes with an intensity that made the statue seem both alive   
  
and dead. I tried to pry myself from that terrible stare, but it bore into me and I   
  
fear it took something from me, but I couldn't tell you what it was.  
  
Night after night, I would be assaulted by these specters of darkness and I   
  
fear I will never truly eradicate these visions from my mind. Some days, I would feel   
  
a sort of dead calm come over me and I could pretend it was nothing. Other days, I   
  
could barely pour a cup of coffee. Yet, money was coming in. My café would never be   
  
popular, but for the first time in a long time, money was no longer a problem. I   
  
should have been happy, but my nightly visions kept me in a perpetual anxiety.   
  
Thinking about the dreams, I cannot understand the panic that rises in me by   
  
their very mention. I would walk around, talk to people and then see a frightening   
  
statue. What about this made me weak with terror? I have no answers. All I know is   
  
that I still feel unease when darkness falls and slumber beckons. During the day, I   
  
would think up different sorts of questions to ask my strange companion. Yet every   
  
night, the same words fell out of my mouth and my companion's. It all seemed like some   
  
sort of stage and we were all rehearsing for some final performance. I also began to   
  
notice small things. Everyone in Moonside seemed to be waiting for something… someone   
  
perhaps.   
  
My life had become stagnant when Unibrow returned. He strolled around the room  
  
before turning to me and asking, "How is my antique?"  
  
"Fine," I replied in dreary monotone.  
  
He walked over to the counter and leaned forward so our faces were inches apart.  
  
"Tell me. Have you ever laid eyes on my statue?"  
  
"You specifically instructed me to never look at it."  
  
"Very good." He handed me my money and left.  
  
That night, when I awoke in my bed in Moonside, I walked down to the bar and   
  
decided not to go talk to that person like always. I stayed in the cafe, behind the   
  
counter and served Espresso, same as it was all day long. No one ever came up to me   
  
unless he or she wanted something to drink. Then, just when I was getting comfortable   
  
and thinking that perhaps I would no longer lived in fear, a woman came to the bar   
  
wearing an alluring red dress.  
  
"Do you want some espresso?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Here you go." In Moonside, I had found there was only one kind. Once the cup   
  
was within her grasp, she turned to the others.   
  
"I propose a toast. To the coming of the Destroyer!" Everyone cheered.   
  
I shrank back, the familiar terror creeping over me once more. The woman turned back  
  
to me. I knew the words that would touch her lips before spoke. "You are not ready for  
  
this place yet, but you will be. Just wait and see."  
  
"What are you talking about?"   
  
She seemed to give me a once over. "Emoclew ot Moonside. Now that you have   
  
seen this place, you have been touched by it. Soon, you will live dually, both here   
  
and there. Between light and darkness. Much of Fourside lives this way and even more   
  
people like you are dragged into the shadows every day. With the rise of Monotoli and  
  
through the use of the Mani Mani statue, the Universal Cosmic Destroyer will come and  
  
he will rule us all!" She and the others laughed loudly and sipped from their cups.  
  
The name came to my lips, though I hadn't known it before. "Giygas."  
  
"Yes. He is coming. We must prepare the way."   
  
A whirlpool of panic and confusion raged inside of me. Waiting, yes, preparing  
  
the way for our own downfall and destruction? A visible shiver ran through me. Would   
  
I soon say and, maybe one day believe such things? I vowed that this would never come  
  
to pass.   
  
Then I awoke in my bed. The first thing I did was run over to the curtains   
  
and pull them open, needing some form of light to filter in. Almost immediately, they  
  
were shut again. I wanted to weep, to cry out, but all I could do was utter the name  
  
of this terrible, accursed place.   
  
"Moonside." I was still there. Not able to believe it, I opened the curtains   
  
again, blinking furiously at the bright sun."Fourside!" I could hardly believe it.   
  
But how?  
  
"Soon, you will live dually, both here and there." I recalled from the   
  
nigtmare.  
  
All day, I poured expresso and talked with the five customers that wandered  
  
in and out of my bar. Around noon, I convinced myself that it was all a nightmare.  
  
My peace was shortlived. Unibrow strolled in around two, when I had no customers.  
  
"Have you seen it? The thing you keep in your storeroom?" His voice carried  
  
an intense enthusiasm as he had never exhibited before.  
  
"You specifically told me never to look at it" I repeated from yesturday.  
  
"I tell you, you have seen it." He sounded positively giddy."You must agree.   
  
I'm the most powerful man in the city."  
  
"Whatever you say. I'll look at something I've seen before." I could not   
  
contain my sarcasm just as he could not contain his glee. We both entered the   
  
storeroom. Aside from the boxes of bootleg expresso, all that was in my storeroom was   
  
a large crate marked FRAGILE. Suddenly, he had a crowbar in his hands (I honestly have   
  
no idea where it came from) and was prying it open.   
  
At the sight of the thing inside, I felt my entire body begin to shake."That  
  
thing?"  
  
"My prized possession. The Mani Mani statue." He laughed with delight. "You  
  
recognize it, don't you? Is it to your liking?"  
  
"How did... How did you know I've seen it in my dreams?"  
  
"The Mani Mani statue is a machine that creates illusions. I control it. I  
  
created Moonside for the weak and the downtrodden of Fourside. I gave them hope.  
  
"They keep talking about the Universal Cosmic Destroyer. How is that hope?"  
  
"They wish for the end of the world. Giygas is the means used to achieve that  
  
end. YOu will be happy there. You wish for it as well."  
  
"What are you talking about?"   
  
"You do," he said with that same excited gleam in his eye. "This cafe of   
  
yours... no one comes here anymore. No one likes it here. You are a failure and   
  
becasue of this and you wish for all of it to end."  
  
"No!" I cried. Certainly, I was a failure, yet... "It wasn't until the Mani  
  
Mani statue came that I felt that way!"   
  
"Who is to say?" Unibrow still looked far too cheerful for the situation.  
  
"Perhaps these dreams, no, illusions brought forth the hidden desires within your   
  
soul. Emocle wot Moonside."   
  
"Why me? Of all the places, why did you choose mine?"He paused and I waited in   
  
agony for a response.   
  
"Do you have to ask?" He sneered. "Your cafe is the most unpopular place in   
  
town. The perfect place to hide it. And you... I knew you would not stop housing it,   
  
even knowing what it was."  
  
I hated to admit the truth in that statement. At the time, I really did love  
  
my cafe and wished so badly for it to do well. I knew, even then, I would not be   
  
telling him to find anywhere else.   
  
"You are a cruel man," I told him. "But you are right. I will keep your statue  
  
here if you are still willing to compensate me." I hated to say those words, but I   
  
can't say I've ever been one to lie.   
  
He smiles his cruel smile and hands me a large white linen sheet. "For your  
  
generocity, I will give you this." He threw it over the statue. "And double its rent.  
  
You are all the man I thought you were." Even now, I'm not sure if that was a   
  
compliment or insult.   
  
"I suppose we are both generous men," I muttered. "Now I will be grateful   
  
enough to show you out." I should have been more polite, but I felt too disgusted with   
  
myself. Perhaps I really did wish for the end of the world. He left me after that to   
  
contemplate my fate.  
  
I suppose you think I was hopelessly friendless because I haven't mentioned  
  
any of them until now. The truth is that soon after the nightmares began, they   
  
distanced themselves from me and I from them. I was always a nervous wreck and they...  
  
well, they always had plenty of problems of their own. Can't say I blame them, for I   
  
soon fell into my own world.That's not to say it wasn't painful. I remember now that   
  
after Unibrow left, my girlfriend of three years came in. I remember her voice so   
  
clearly.  
  
"Are you even listening to me now? I feel like I'm always so far away from you  
  
now. You always stand there with that haunted expression on your face. What happened  
  
between us? We were so close. Why won't you tell me anything anymore?"  
  
"I'm sorry," I said and though I was, I also knew it was a pathetic reply.  
  
"But you wouldn't understand." There was no way I could tell her...  
  
"Well," she answered, sighing deeply. "We'll never know. I'm moving... to   
  
Summers. There's a good job waiting for me and... well, there's also someONE there  
  
as well. I'm sorry it had to be like this, but..." All I remember after that was not  
  
knowing what to say. I think she probably walked out in disgust.  
  
Looking around my cafe after she left, for the first time, I looked at the   
  
place, which had brought such hardship and misery and felt a twinge of loathing. I   
  
still wonder what curse was put upon that wretched place.  
  
Being who I am, I cleaned up anyway. You know, Just in case someone was so in   
  
need for expresso that they had to come here. While I busied myself with organizing   
  
behind the counter, I heard the unmistakable sound of conversation. Getting up slowly   
  
and turning around, I noticed the lights had turned neon and the floor had become   
  
black. Moonside.  
  
"I-I'm not asleep, am I?" I remember saying aloud.  
  
"Do you think you are asleep?" asks the female customer at the counter. She  
  
had silky blond hair and penetrating gray eyes. I stared at her for a moment before   
  
offering her a cappachino, but she only repeated,   
  
"Do you think you are asleep?" She shifted her weight from one hip to the other and  
  
her red dress swayed.  
  
"I-I must be. I only come here when I'm asleep," I replied, entirely   
  
dumbfounded. "Do you want anything?"  
  
"No," she replied.   
  
"So why are you still here then?"  
  
"I said no." How stupid of me to have forgotten. I wordlessly prepared her the  
  
drink. "You are the keeper of the Mani Mani statue."  
  
My mouth went dry. I handed her the drink as I answered. "It's in my storeroom."  
  
"Okay, then there is something you need to understand. The statue is the   
  
machine that allows us to exist in Moonside-"  
  
"Then Moonside is an illusion?" I cut her off before she could say more.  
  
She took a cautious sip of her drink. "It is the world as it will be. It is   
  
the world as we wish it." Illusion it shall be no more should the Destroyer succeed."  
  
"When I first came here, they said it would be the end of the world if he   
  
succeeded."  
  
"And it will," She said with relish. "All the world shall be covered in   
  
darkness. It shall be as Moonside is." She took another sip as I repressed a   
  
shudder. "And might I add... this is the only plane of existance in which such a   
  
cafe could ever be popular." Leaning in close to me, she whispered, "And that's a pity.  
  
I like it here."  
  
"T-thank you..." I think I responded. Perhaps it was something similar.  
  
"Guard that statue. Especially keep your eye out for a boy in a red cap. He is   
  
the one who could destroy everything." Destroy. Such a choice of words. "Should you   
  
truely be one of us... Should you be, you will protect the statue, even if doing so   
  
should claim your life."  
  
I thought of telling her how much I hated that statue and of the slow loathing  
  
rising in my chest at the sight of my once-beloved cafe. Yet, all I said was, "I will   
  
protect it with as much devotion as I have for my cafe." She seemed satisfied. At least  
  
I can say I am not a liar.  
  
For two weeks, life went on in such a haze that I can only glance at fleeting  
  
details. A boy in a red cap may have stopped in, but I did nothing to bar him. At any  
  
rate, that horrible statue remained intact. The next thing that comes clearly into   
  
focus was when a thief stopped in by the name of Everdred.  
  
"Rumor has it you have a golden statue in your storeroom." he said immediately.  
  
I glanced behind us at the scant few customers here. For my Fourside cafe, this was a   
  
large crowd.   
  
"Well, if rumors say so, I must," I muttered as sarcastically as I was able,  
  
hoping he'd get the impression that I had no idea what he was talking about.  
  
"It's mine!" he cried with a sudden fury. "Give it back to me!"   
  
Giving up all pretense, I decided to be direct. "I've seen the owner and he's   
  
not you. Either order something or leave."  
  
"Some man with a unibrow? He stole it from me!"   
  
"What do you care for some creepy golden statue? Trust me, it's probably more  
  
trouble than its worth." I muttered deferentially. "You can't really want such a   
  
useless thing back." The conversation went on for some time longer and from there, the   
  
details are shakey. All I remember for sure is that eventually, I showed him to my   
  
storeroom. With a quivering hand, I pulled the white sheet off of it, declaring,  
  
"This is it! This is what you wanted?" He looked at the statue with a   
  
determined stare, looking right into the statue's horrible eyes without a show of fear.   
  
The eyes blazed and shot forth a strange attack of light and energy. He ran away from   
  
it and I left the statue uncovered and went on with my buisness.   
  
"What just happened there?" Asked one of the customers, who sounded rather   
  
dazed.  
  
"Checked something in the back. Got a stain on his shirt. Going home to wash   
  
it," I muttered, thinking Certainly he would be alright. I found his obituary in the   
  
newspaper the next day. Showing him the Mani Mani statue is one of my deepest regrets.   
  
I forced myself to focus on work. I forced myself to forget the feeling of   
  
disgust I felt toward myself for actually continuing to keep that wretched thing in my   
  
storeroom for so long.   
  
Two hours later, the boy with the red cap came into my cafe, for either the   
  
first or second time (I can't really remember). Also, for either the first or second   
  
time, I did nothing to stand in his way. I couldn't bring myself to protect that   
  
stupid statue. After all, if that tough man, Everdred ran from the statue, what   
  
possible harm could some kid do, even if he did have a red cap?   
  
He crawled into my storeroom and the world shifted to Moonside. To my   
  
amazement, I had the same customers in both places. I shrugged it off and continued   
  
working, letting the boy walk right out without a fuss. Time passed without anyone   
  
leaving or entering until the female customer from before came in wearing the same  
  
red dress.  
  
"You let that boy near the statue! Didn't I warn you of the danger he would  
  
be?" Her eyes narrowed in contempt. "Why did you let him through? Answer me!"  
  
"I told you," I replied dully, as though I had said it eight times. "I would  
  
protect the statue with the same devotion I have to my cafe. Ever since I came here,  
  
I like it less and less."   
  
"But-but... Why are you here if you do not wish to acheive our goals? Why are  
  
you here if you do not wish for the Destroyer to come?"  
  
"Are you sure you want the world to be like Moonside?" I asked her quietly,  
  
realizing that perhaps the statue cast illusions into the heart as well as the mind.  
  
She stared at me, both furious and frightened. The entire cafe went silent. At last,  
  
he voice returned to her.   
  
"I wish for it more sincerely than you could ever know."  
  
"I'm not sure I believe you," I replied, returning to the neverending task of   
  
cleaning. She stormed out. I never saw her again.   
  
My vision swirrled before my eyes as another familiar face waltzed in. Unibrow,  
  
the face I had never seen in Moonside before.   
  
"I heard what you did," he told me under his breath. I wondered why he didn't   
  
seem more angry. "I think it's rather despicable to stab us all in the back."  
  
"I guess you were wrong about me then," I answered stiffly. "I don't really wish  
  
for the end of the world."  
  
"To think I trusted you with my prized possetion!" He fumed, his face rapidly   
  
turning the color of a tomato.  
  
"Is that thing really yours or is your ownership an illusion, like everything  
  
else connected with it?" I retorted scathingly. He seemed very taken aback and stormed  
  
out in the same manner as my lady customer.   
  
From there, I could do nothing but ponder the result of my actions. To this day,  
  
I am disgusted with myself for being little more than an observer, allowing things to   
  
happen as they would. Of course, everything turned out all right in the end. Light   
  
triumphed over darkness and I was able to say goodbye to that wretched cafe. Perhaps, if  
  
I could return to that time, I would have refused the offer and gone bankrupt. Would that  
  
have been better, I wonder.   
  
Now is not the time to ponder what cannot be. You have what you came for. Now  
  
leave me in peace. 


End file.
